Holiday Challah

09/21/2022

Traditional Friday evening Challah is a long loaf, formed from a three, four, or six-strand braid. An example of a basic three strand Challah is found in the initial Friday Baking Project blog on 8/7/2021. For the upcoming Rosh Hashana holiday, the beginning of the Jewish New Year, the shape…

Plum Torte 2022

09/12/2022

For many in the northeast, late summer/early fall baking always includes the simple, yet wonderful Plum Torte from Marian Burros of the New York Times. According to the paper, this recipe was printed annually from 1983 to 1989, and there was an uproar when they stopped. To pick up where…

Blueberry Tart

09/07/2022

With blueberry muffins a daily offering at Seven Layers, there were always plenty of blueberries around the shop. Wanting a new item for the pastry case toward the end of the first summer, I thought they could be put to use in a new dessert. Researching my favorite baking books,…

Plum Galette

08/31/2022

A galette is essentially an open-faced pie, where fruit is placed in the center and the outer edge is brought up to just partially cover the fruit, allowing its simple beauty to shine through. With no top crust to crimp and seal with the bottom, galettes are much easier than…

Chocolate Cream Pie

08/24/2022

Reminiscing over food often includes the occasion and the special people at the table in addition to the food. Excellent meals while traveling, and holiday dinners are examples, where all elements meld into one strong memory. Such is the case with this Chocolate Cream Pie recipe. We had long time…

Vanilla-Roasted Peaches

08/02/2022

After seeing beautiful peaches in the farmers market last week, I wanted to find a simple recipe for a peach dessert that took little preparation time and didn’t hide these summer jewels under a crust or streusel. A quick search through my old summer dessert files revealed this wonderful 2007…

Flourless Chocolate Cake

07/28/2022

I saw this recipe while looking though a Culinary Institute of America baking textbook and both the ingredients and procedure caught my eye. I noticed, for the first time in my chocolate cake baking experience, whipped heavy cream as an ingredient. The procedure is also quite unique: the eggs are…

A white plate topped with muffins covered in coconut.

Banana Coconut Muffins

07/21/2022

Like last week’s Blueberry Muffins, these are a lovely addition to the summer breakfast table. The combination of yogurt, banana and shredded coconut produces a unique and delicious muffin which goes extremely well with a cup of strong morning coffee.The recipe is from a lovely little book entitled Wild About…